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All spacecraft attitude estimation methods are based on Wahba's optimization problem. This problem can be reduced to finding the largest eigenvalue and the corresponding eigenvector for Davenport's $K$-matrix. Several iterative algorithms,…
The Wahba problem, also known as rotation search, seeks to find the best rotation to align two sets of vector observations given putative correspondences, and is a fundamental routine in many computer vision and robotics applications. This…
A global model is presented that can be used to study attitude maneuvers of a rigid spacecraft in a circular orbit about a large central body. The model includes gravity gradient effects that arise from the non-uniform gravity field and…
This paper revisits the topic of rotation estimation through the lens of special unitary matrices. We begin by reformulating Wahba's problem using $SU(2)$ to derive multiple solutions that yield linear constraints on corresponding…
This paper is about the old Wahba problem in its more general form, which we call "simultaneous rotation and correspondence search". In this generalization we need to find a rotation that best aligns two partially overlapping $3$D point…
Why is it that semidefinite relaxations have been so successful in numerous applications in computer vision and robotics for solving non-convex optimization problems involving rotations? In studying the empirical performance we note that…
This paper focuses on the attitude motion of spacecraft systems featuring asymmetric spacecraft platforms and unbalanced rotors. Through perturbation expansion, the spacecraft dynamic equation is simplified as a linear periodically…
Existing methods for rotation estimation between two spherical ($\mathbb{S}^2$) patterns typically rely on spherical cross-correlation maximization between two spherical function. However, these approaches exhibit computational complexities…
The paper analyzes the rotation averaging problem as a minimization problem for a potential function of the corresponding gradient system. This dynamical system is one generalization of the famous Kuramoto model on special orthogonal group…
In recent years, semidefinite relaxations of common optimization problems in robotics have attracted growing attention due to their ability to provide globally optimal solutions. In many cases, it was shown that specific handcrafted…
Estimating unknown rotations from noisy measurements is an important step in SfM and other 3D vision tasks. Typically, local optimization methods susceptible to returning suboptimal local minima are used to solve the rotation averaging…
Rotation averaging is a key subproblem in applications of computer vision and robotics. Many methods for solving this problem exist, and there are also several theoretical results analyzing difficulty and optimality. However, one aspect…
A minimum-time reorientation of an axisymmetric rigid spacecraft controlled by three torques is studied. The orientation of the body is modeled such that the attitude kinematics are representative of a spin-stabilized spacecraft. The…
We present novel, convex relaxations for rotation and pose estimation problems that can a posteriori guarantee global optimality for practical measurement noise levels. Some such relaxations exist in the literature for specific problem…
The affine inverse eigenvalue problem consists of identifying a real symmetric matrix with a prescribed set of eigenvalues in an affine space. Due to its ubiquity in applications, various instances of the problem have been widely studied in…
This article solves an optimal control problem arising in attitude control of a spacecraft under state and control constraints. We first derive the discrete-time attitude dynamics by employing discrete mechanics. The orientation transfer,…
Orbit-attitude hovering of a spacecraft at the natural relative equilibria in the body-fixed frame of a uniformly rotating asteroid is discussed in the framework of the full spacecraft dynamics, in which the spacecraft is modeled as a rigid…
We retrace Davenport's solution to Wahba's classic problem of aligning two pointclouds using the formalism of Geometric Algebra (GA). GA proves to be a natural backdrop for this problem involving three-dimensional rotations due to the…
The paper addresses a problem of constrained spacecraft attitude stabilization with simultaneous reaction wheel (RW) desaturation. The spacecraft has a reaction wheel array (RWA) consisting of four RWs in a pyramidal configuration. The…
This paper presents a convex optimization-based method for finding the globally optimal solutions of a class of mixed-integer non-convex optimal control problems. We consider problems that are non-convex in the input norm, which is a…